Coach company quits town

A long established cross-country coach to London will no longer call at Morecambe after operators quit the town.

National Express have said their 571 service to London will no longer stop off in Morecambe, Bolton-le-Sands and Carnforth and have blamed declining passengers numbers for the withdrawal of the service which finishes on Monday, April 3.

One resident says the 571 service may have been running for up to 40 years.

Trevor Cooke said: “I think it is awful news after running the 571 route through here for decades.

“This is the last bastion of coach travel serving Morecambe now departing.

“To arrive at ground zero, it’s very very sad for the bus traveller and for Morecambe.

“In this day and age you do want the routes of communication for Morecambe in and out to be open. It won’t be stopping in Bolton-le-Sands or Carnforth either.

“I came into town on it in 1985 so it must be at least 32 years that it has been coming into Morecambe. It’s just sad really. I’ve worked around the country for a number of years and lesser prominent resorts get a better service than Morecambe.

“I can’t see why if someone has booked they can’t come and pick that person up – if no-one has booked then don’t stop off.

“Everything is on the up and we are starting to have a lot of plusses, we don’t need any negatives.”

A National Express spokesman said: “Unfortunately, due to declining passenger numbers, the 571 service will no-longer call at Morecambe from Monday, April 3 .

“As with any need to make changes we have not taken this decision lightly.

“However on average just one person a day catches the coach from this stop and for nearly half the year it has no passengers at all so it is simply not effective for us to keep it running to this stop.”

Jim Catterall, who is on the executive committee for Bay Tourism and has also owned the Craigwell hotel in Morecambe for 14 years, said: “I don’t think as far as tourism its going to make very much difference at all.

“It is very sad as there are going to be people that found it very useful. The future for Morecambe is looking good in the medium term.”